Harvard Professor: CS50, What Matters More Than CS, Lecturing Well | David J Malan

David Malan is a Harvard professor known for turning CS50 into a popular online computer science course. We discussed the story behind CS50, how to lecture well, and how AI is changing CS education including in cheating/academic dishonesty.

• My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: read.compose.llc

𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀:

• YouTube: youtu.be/bB2o81DnKHk
• Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod…
• Transcript: developing.dev/p/harvard-professor-cs50-what-m…

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲'𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸:

• Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at cursor.com
• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at workos.com

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Getting into computer science
3:27 - Becoming the professor of CS50
11:19 - How to lecture well
14:25 - Depth vs engagement in education
18:11 - Why don't we consolidate educational resources
23:20 - Why start with C
31:51 - The ideal use of AI in education
34:54 - Cheating and AI
38:21 - Should we really learn CS still?
45:24 - College vs online education
47:06 - The most difficult concept to learn
51:00 - Growth vs fixed mindset
52:35 - The future of CS50
55:56 - Biggest career regret
1:00:29 - Top book recommendations
1:02:36 - Advice for his younger self
1:03:35 - Outro

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱:

• Personal website: cs.harvard.edu/malan
• Facebook: facebook.com/dmalan
• Github: github.com/dmalan
• Instagram: instagram.com/davidjmalan
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/malan
• Reddit: reddit.com/user/davidjmalan
• X/Twitter: x.com/davidjmalan
• Threads: threads.com/@davidjmalan

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝘆𝗮𝗻:

• Newsletter: developing.dev
• X/Twitter: x.com/ryanlpeterman
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman
• Threads: threads.com/@ryanlpeterman
• Instagram: instagram.com/ryanlpeterman
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲:

• His first program for CS50: x.com/davidjmalan/status/1432538424590929920
• Paper about CS50 improvements: cs.harvard.edu/malan/publications/fp310-malan.…
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide…
• How Computers Work book (not affiliate link): amazon.com/How-Computers-Work-Evolution-Techno…